Hi everyone! Another fic! Well, I started this in my English class… hee hee, naughty me! Anyways, enjoy. And as always, I don't own anything Beyblade related! Please review!

Chapter 1: To Suffer in Silence

'I often wonder why I carry all this guilt

When it's you that helped me put up all these walls I've built

Shadows stir at night through a crack in the door,

The echo of a broken child screaming "please no more"'

I'm OK, Christina Aquilera

Kai's POV

The world comes back into focus, blurry and bright. I blink, twice, while my eyes re-adjust to the light. I look around, making sure he's gone, truly gone. There's no sound. It's as silent as a graveyard. So he's left.

Slowly, I roll over and push myself up, wincing as a fiery pain stabs into me. Placing my shaking hand on the wall for support, I manage to stand. The world swims in and out of focus, like a badly tuned radio as a visual.

So he left me there all night again. No wonder I feel so cold. In spite of myself, a small smirk creeps to my face. Cold. I'm always described as cold. Heart of ice, that's me…

Yeah. Well, they don't live like me. They don't know what it's like.

I struggle out of the room, willing myself not to feel the pain. My thoughts are concentrated on getting to the kitchen and then out before he does. Sneak in, sneak out. Like a rat or something.

Collapsing into a chair, my tired eyes notice two things. An empty bottle of vodka on the table, telling me that he's been drinking again. When he does that, I know to stay out of his way more than ever.

And the calendar on the wall reads 14th January.

January the 14th. I'm fourteen today. Not that anyone cares. I feel a hot prickling behind my eyes, and the tears come. The emotions just keep building up too quickly now, it's too hard to keep them all in.

"What are you doing here?" My grandfather's voice cuts into my head. I keep my face turned to the floor, studying the tiling. My bangs, which always stick out everywhere, fall in front of my face. Well, at least they're useful for one thing. They hide the tears I don't want anyone else to see.

"Nothing." I try to keep my voice from shaking, but he scares me so much, that's why I can always run so fast. Run so fast from the blows which always seem to fly my way, no matter what I do to try to please him, it's still never enough…

"Don't give me nothing, boy!" he shouts, and gives me a vicious backhander that knocks me to the floor. I lie there motionless for a moment, then painfully push myself to my knees.

"Sorry sir," I mumble, feeling my cheek burn. I hear him leave the room and, before he can change his mind, I leave, stumbling out into the cold January air.

Fourteen today. Fourteen years of hell. Shivering, I sit down on a bench and hug my knees into my body in an effort to keep warm. Why me? I think miserably. I bury my face into my knees, hiding it. Silently crying.

"Kai? Is that you?" A voice next to me, concerned. I don't want it. I want to be left alone, don't want to face the endless assault of questioning that will surely come next.

"I know you're awake. Why don't you answer me?" The voice is in front of me now. I ignore it. Tuning it out.

"Kai - you're covered in bruises. What happened to you?" I feel two hands placed on my shoulders, and inhale sharply as they touch one of my bruises.

"Fell down the stairs," I lie desperately, but inside a voice is screaming the truth; 'My grandfather beat me - again. Help me!'

"You said that last time I asked you," the voice accuses me, and now I know it's Rei. I can feel his gaze like a physical force, piercing my mind.

"Rei. Leave me alone." I try my usual technique of pushing everyone away. But it's not working.

"The Kai I know doesn't fall down the stairs twice in the same week." His grip tightens, and for an instant, Rei's face becomes my grandfather's. Jeering at me.

"Worthless piece of filth…" Unconsciously, I find myself saying "Please, not again, don't hurt me anymore…" My eyes are screwed up.

Rei's grip loosens abruptly. "Kai…" he says, shocked.

"Kai. Look at me." Reluctantly, I meet his amber gaze. "I want to help you," he continues gently. "But to do that, I need to know what's going on."

For a moment, I am tempted to tell all, to finally open up. But if I do that, I have nowhere else to go. Truly alone.

"Rei. There's nothing wrong. Really." The lie, told so many times before, slides up my throat. It feels as though I'm signing my own death warrant.

He lets go of my shoulders and looks at me, a small frown on his face. "Oh. Well… if you ever want to talk…you know where to find me." And with one last look, he leaves.

I stare blankly ahead. In my mind's eye I can see four grey walls closing in on me. No way out. Just because I can't bring myself to tell someone.

Fourteen years old. I feel like both my heart and soul are breaking. fourteen years of pain. I'm already dying inside.

It's been fourteen years of lies.